Two more men charged in plot to make explosives

Both Chicago residents were going to use the bombs during the NATO summit, say police.

Chicago Tribune

Posted: May 21, 2012

CHICAGO - Two more men have been charged with planning to make explosives to be used during the NATO summit.

Police would not say whether they are connected to three men in their 20s who were arrested in a raid earlier in the week and charged under the state's anti-terrorism statutes with planning to use Molotov cocktails during the summit.

Sebastian Senakiewicz, 24, of Chicago, was arrested Thursday afternoon without incident at his home, according to a police report. He was charged Saturday afternoon.

Senakiewicz, a mechanic, "had been planning/conspiring with more than two other individuals in the building of explosives, including Molotov cocktails which were to be used/detonated during the NATO summit," according to the report.

According to prosecutors, Senakiewicz told others that he had "a carful of explosives" capable of taking out a highway overpass. On Tuesday, he told others he had explosives hidden in a hollowed-out book at his home, authorities said, but a search of his Chicago residence did not turn up any explosives.

Molly Armour, an attorney for the National Lawyers Guild, who is representing Senakiewicz, who works as a mechanic, called the accusations against her client "extremely sensationalized charges."

"He's a political man being targeted because of his beliefs," Armour said.

Mark Neiweem, 28, of Chicago, was charged with one count of attempted possession of explosive or incendiary devices, prosecutors said. Neiweem "engaged in dialogue with a subject, during which time he provided same subject with a list of ingredients that are used in the construction of an explosive device," according to a police report.

Neiweem is on probation for punching a Chicago police officer in 2010 after authorities tried to question someone they thought was drunk and unresponsive. Prosecutors are trying to revoke his probation, saying he didn't do the required community service, according to records. A judge has yet to decide.

Neiweem's attorney, Steven Saltzman, said his client had been in custody for at least 66 hours before he was charged, well beyond the 48-hour legal limit.